The 2023-24 basketball season has been a tough start for the Chagrin Falls Tigers, a team that started the season 0-7 before facing the Chardon Hilltoppers Jan. 3.
Game photos click here.
The 2023-24 basketball season has been a tough start for the Chagrin Falls Tigers, a team that started the season 0-7 before facing the Chardon Hilltoppers Jan. 3.
In his 19th season, Head Coach Dave Bargar felt pride in his team, an inexperienced group that followed its game plan exactly and won in convincing fashion, 68-44.
“Chardon has a very good offensive team, so we wanted to slow their scorers down by not letting them get out in transition,” Bargar said. “I thought we did a good job in our man defense early in the game, and then when we switched to our zone defense as the game progressed, they seemed to struggle a bit.
“Offensively, we thought that if we had good movement in our half court offense, that we could have some success. We also focused on getting out in transition to get some easy baskets.”
Chagrin Falls did just that.
Coach Bargar’s team jumped out to a 10-point lead in the opening quarter, 17-7. Sophomore guard Jacob Kay would put on a clinic, connecting on three of four 3-pointers and leading all scorers with 11 points.
Freshman Luke Galfidi led Chardon with four points to start the contest.
At 36-17 Tigers, their first win of the season was just 16 minutes away.
“Obviously, when you are 0-7, it was important to get our first win,” Bargar said. “We lost a lot of experience from last year’s team, so we are very inexperienced right now. You never know how long it’s going to take to gain that experience, and we’ve struggled with that early in the season.
“We’ve had a couple of last-second losses, so hopefully this will give our guys some confidence moving forward.”
Those losses came from very challenging teams including Chagrin Valley Conference (Chagrin) opponent West Geauga, who remained undefeated in conference play, sitting at 4-0.
Streetsboro pulled away from the Tigers in overtime, claiming a 41-40 victory Dec. 30. But last-second losses could play as an advantage for the Tigers as they start the New Year.
Chagrin Falls’ coaching staff was looking for a change and quite literally a spark to see who was going to face the challenge of turning the season around.
“The win was a group effort, but Jacob Kay really stands out with how he played,” Bargar said. “This was Jacob’s first varsity start, and he scored 26 points and actually sat most of the second quarter with foul trouble. Jacob showed no fear and gave us a big boost.”
Kay scored 11 of his 26 points in the third quarter, when the Tigers outscored the Hilltoppers 21-11.
Galfidi and senior Ryan Grau each scored five for the Hilltoppers.
Despite the Hilltoppers’ off night, the team has had success from senior leaders Sammy Sulka and Carson Frost, averaging 14.2 points and 8.2 rebounds per game, and 10 points per game, respectively. Galfidi has found himself early in his Hilltopper career averaging 11 points per game, 4.5 rebounds, and 4.3 assists.
“Chagrin is a very talented team,” Chardon Head Coach Chad Murawski said. “They are extremely well coached and have a solid program. Bottom line, we weren’t able to hit shots.
“We shot under 25 percent from the floor, they shot about 45 percent. We lost the rebounding battle as well as the turnover battle. Bottom line, we got outplayed from start to finish. We need to regroup with conference play coming up.”
The Hilltoppers open conference play Jan 12. against Eastlake North, a team the Hilltoppers swept a season ago, finishing 15-7 (8-4 WRC).
Galfidi led the team with 12 points, while Grau added 10 and Ian Galati added eight.
For the Tigers, Kay paced the offense, but junior Ryan Curtiss added 14 and Spencer Kaas ended with 12.
“Ozzy DiFranco set the tone with his energy and created havoc on defense,” said Bargar, elaborating on his team’s group effort. “Spencer Kaas was close to a triple-double with 12 points, nine rebounds, and seven assists. Ryan Curtiss was solid with 14 points, six rebounds and five assists. And I thought Aiden Beresford and Robby Mignogna did a great job in the middle of our zone tonight.”
The Tigers will look to continue their hot shooting when they travel this week to Beachwood, then host West Geauga Jan. 12.
Bargar said his team’s slow start has been challenging.
“We knew that our inexperience at the beginning of the year could be an issue, but our program over the years has been immune to having a really bad season,” he said. “Even in our down years, we would find a way to be competitive and get to .500.
“Our message has been about handling adversity and finding a way to turn this into a positive down the road. We’ve talked a lot about being connected as a group, and that together we could turn it around — it’s not going to be just one person.”
